Volunteer Experience

Made an update on my Linked In profile so it now shows that I have experience. Volunteer experience, that is. I was told by some industry partners to include all kinds of volunteer experience. Something about it felt a bit weird though, like I was showing off or that I took up a bunch of volunteer experience all at once for the sake of putting it on my profile. This is definitely not true.

I am currently volunteering at three places and have been for a while. The reason that I only listed them now (and not when I created my Linked In account) is that I've been doing it for so long that it felt like part of my routine that I never thought of it to be volunteer work. I mean when I think of the term 'volunteer work' I think of volunteering at a soup kitchen or knocking on doors for the Salvation Army.

I can thank my Dad for getting me into these jobs. Being part of 3 church communities/congregations/groups he thought that it would be good to get me involved with him. He probably also wanted to show off to his friends.

I clean my local church on a monthly basis, doing things like sweeping. mopping floors, cleaning windows and dusting. It's usually about 2 hours and always gets me sweaty. Sometimes I feel reluctant going but I think of it as a workout.

I also sing as part of a choir every two months as part of the monthly Indonesian masses. Out of all the volunteer experiences, I find this one the most taxing. Not because it is challenging (but it does push me, singing in Indonesian and Latin) but because the rehearsals (which last about 3 hours, and are held 2-3 times a month) involve a lot of waiting around which wastes a lot of time. One thing that really annoys me is a disruption in productivity, especially having to wait around, being unable to do anything. This is why I can't join every month, it's much too time consuming. But it's always worth it in the end.

Every Christmas, our bible sharing group also sings carols to a retirement village and hospital. The rehearsals also involve a lot of waiting around because people get chatty but it's tolerable. It's always good to give back, especially in the Christmas season and it always gets me in the spirit.

So those are the volunteer experiences that I am currently involved with and getting busy with this season. I don't expect listing these experiences to significantly make me stand out to future employers as I'm clearly not pursuing a future in cleaning or singing. But it does make me feel slightly better to be able to include some sort of experience as I've never had a part time job before.